Shirtless Dudes in the LOS, Who Are They?

I just wonder who are all these shirtless farangs who seem to be everywhere these days. In the US at least nobody goes around without wearing shirts. Here, of course, in the LOS due to the culture the Thai’s are very conservative as far as what they wear out in public. You could live here 100 years and never see a Thai in a bank, for example, without a shirt. God forbid if a Thai did go into a bank without a shirt he would be asked immediately to leave, and if he put up a fuss, the police would be called.

I got in a conversation actually about that very thing with a Thai friend recently who works in a bank. She had the unpleasant duty of trying to inform an obnoxious farang about the dress code. The guy put up a fuss and wouldn’t leave and finally they just let him go about his business. The time I was in line in the bank and a shirtless guy was ahead of me, he went about his business unheeded.

My question isn’t really rhetorical, can someone really enlighten me on to who these guys are. Are there countries, perhaps in Europe, where you can go into businesses without a shirt on? Maybe it is just their culture?

As for me, even if I lived in a nudist colony back home, if I came to Thailand I would dress appropriately to the local customs when going about doing business.

The rules have laxed up over the years. My brother told me about the time he was given a good talking to (over 10 years ago) when he arrived at Don Muang airport in shorts, and was told it wasn’t appropriate attire for entering the kingdom. Well, he was finally allowed to enter, but every time since has arrived in long pants!